Li Shizhen

"The history of Chinese strong spirit (baijiu) is not very long, roughly maturing during the late 14th century at the end of the Yuan dynasty and the beginning of the Ming dynasty. The distillation technique of baijiu is not originally from China but was learned from the Persians in the Middle East. Li Shizhen mentioned in the “Compendium of Materia Medica” that distillation techniques came from the Western world. There is much debate among academics on this, including my studies on Li Shizhen. Before the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China, literati and officials valued yellow wine, and baijiu was not considered elegant. In the early days, the prosperous regions for baijiu brewing were Shanxi and Shaanxi, with Sichuan spirits learning and innovating from them."